The Internet is evolving from a human-centered network for people's information creation and consumption to an Internet of things (IoT) enabling distributed components such as objects to exchange and process information. An Internet of everything (IoE) combining big data processing with the IoT through a connection to a cloud server is emerging. To implement the IoT, technological components such as sensing, wired/wireless communication and network infrastructure, service interface, and security are required. Recently, sensor network, machine to machine (M2M), and machine type communication (MTC) for connection between the objects are under development.
An IoT environment can provide an intelligent internet technology service for adding value to people's lives by collecting and analyzing data generated in the connected objects. The IoT is applicable to smart homes, smart buildings, smart cities, smart cars or connected cars, smart grids, health care, smart appliances, and advanced medical services by converging with existing Information technology (IT) and various industries.
As an alternative to near field communication (NFC) which is a close-range wireless communication, a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) beacon using BLE is suggested. The BLE beacon is being commercialized in various fields such as position information, marketing, purchase, and automatic check-in.
An effective communication range of the NFC is limited to about 4˜20 cm, whereas an effective communication range of the BLE beacon is expanding to about 5 cm˜50 m. The NFC installs a separate chip in every mobile communication terminal, whereas the BLE beacon allows the close-range wireless communication using a beacon merely using a BLE recognition function. Naturally, the BLE beacon is more economic than the NFC and provides the wireless communication service even in a wide space.
The BLE beacon features low power consumption so as to provide the wireless communication service lasting over one year by merely using one coin-sized battery. Further, Bluetooth of previous versions has been limited to roughly seven slave devices, whereas BLE 4.0 of a recent version can synchronize with an unlimited number of slave devices.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.